Los Angeles Kings 2014-15 Season Preview

Los Angeles Kings’ fans are abuzz, coming off a lengthy post-season campaign that saw them lift the Stanley Cup. With very few changes to throw askew the team chemistry, they are surely poised to become the first repeat champions in the post-lockout era.

Showing no signs of rust in the pre-season as of this writing, the Los Angeles Kings have gone 5-0-1 with 1 game remaining. With 3 shootout wins and only 1 Jonathan Quick start, the Los Angeles Kings are the endurance champions of the NHL, proving that they can go the distance as a continuation of last year’s Stanley Cup run.

Perhaps the most intelligent move that head coach Darryl Sutter can pull in the early season is to let Goalie Jonathan Quick rest for as much as he can, as he is notorious for suffering from post-season hangover after lengthy Stanley Cup Playoff runs, highlighted by a softie from half scored against him last season. Quick is ripped apart, then comes back stronger than ever to make his naysayers eat their words.

The loss of veteran defenseman Willie Mitchell during free agency to the Florida Panthers may exacerbate the difficulties Jonathan Quick faces in the early season; however, the Kings are deep enough defensively to overcome his absence.

With core players Anze Kopitar, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Marian Gaborik, Drew Doughty, Jonathan Quick, and captain Dustin Brown signed for the very long foreseeable future, expect much of the same from last season from the Los Angeles Kings when it comes to offensive output, though expect huge offensive contributions from Justin Williams and Jarret Stoll, as they look for a contract re-up in the City of Angels, or to increase their stock in the free agent markets. In addition to Williams and Stoll,

As a strong offensive and solid defensive squad, the Los Angeles Kings have no immediately evident holes in their lineup that they need to fill, though an upgrade on backup goaltending (currently Martin Jones), and a refresh on defensive depth may be on order, so watch for those trades as the season unfolds.

Pedro Rengel

Originally hailing from the tropical paradise of Venezuela, I moved to Canada at age 11 for the sole reason of falling in love with hockey as a self-proclaimed Pittsburgh Penguins fan. Now a Canadian citizen, my mad love affair with hockey represents a statistical contribution as opposed to an anomaly. Being able to write this well despite having Spanish as a first language is enough of an anomaly (I'm occasionally biased).